Gluten Free Banana Bread…Whole Grain, NO saturated fat!

The other day at the market I picked up some bananas. (Thrilling tidbit, I know.) The deal was too good to resist: 39 cents/pound for ORGANIC bananas. Say what? I took a double-look to make sure I had read that right. And yes, yes I had. The “regular” (non-organic) bananas were selling for 88 cents/pound. Now does that make sense to you? Yeah. It didn’t to me either, BUT it sure did get me to buy some tasty, perfect organic bananas. And maybe more than I should have as I found myself with 3 overly-ripened bananas the other day.

And they were calling my name.

Big time.

Banana bread is something that doesn’t really beckon me, to be honest. There’s something about adding a ton of butter to bread (I know.. I do it with the crescent rolls and croissants naturally are butter, butter and more butter) that just turns me off sometimes. I am trying hard to LOSE weight – not put more butter in things. So things are changing around here in the Gluten Free Gobsmacked household. (And I’m not sure my meat-loving, protein-inhaling Love-bug is on the band wagon yet. So change is slowly infused and when he can’t detect it.)

Making things saturated-fat-free is a good step. That meant that my mom’s banana bread recipe was definitely OUT. (Auf Wiedersehen, for you Heidi Klum/Project Runway fans.) This doesn’t mean that flavor is out. No way. And if the flavors were lessened, I wouldn’t be able to sneak these new low-fat versions past my Love. He’s way to food-smart for me to be able to do that.

So I started puttering around in the kitchen with my ripe bananas and DANG if I didn’t make the best freakin’ banana bread I’ve EVER had. (And let me tell ya, growing up in Minnesota = eating banana bread. It just does.) I brought over some banana bread to share with my gluten-eating family (nephews) and some might-as-well-be-family friends last night. I was a little worried, to be honest. Our visiting family/friends don’t eat gluten-free and I wasn’t sure if the bread would go over well.

I worried for nothing.

The bread was DEVOURED by all. My nephew even stopped playing guitar hero TWICE to go get more banana bread from the kitchen. (Now THERE’S an endorsement you can take to the bank.) And our visiting family/friends who don’t eat gluten-free? They were all over it.

Hooray! Success!

And the no-saturated-fat? Did it pass my Love’s scrutiny? Heck yea! I’m sure he will first discover this news while reading this post. (Bwahahahah)

This recipe has 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. The walnuts add great Omega 3 and Omega 6 oils, but no saturated fats. However, omitting the walnuts will lower the calories for each slice (I got a little more than 15 slices from my loaf) from 180 to 148 and the Total fat from 5g to 2g. (You will also lose a gram of fiber if you omit the walnuts – just an FYI.)

I will be making these as mini-muffins this weekend for my school lunches or breakfasts. Seriously. I’m off to the store in search of the perfect bananas as soon as I get this post up and running. These are good. And dang are they gonna be great as mini-muffins too!

Comments

Honey, I want to make this tomorrow when my organic bananas will be just right. But I can’t do millet or sorghum, as you know. What flour can I sub? I have all the other ingredients (though I think I am going to use brown sugar splenda).

XOXO Ging

Hiya Ginger-roo =)
I would use brown rice flour. You can substitute that equally for millet and/or sorghum (and vice-versa), I believe. -Kate

I really like this recipe – the texture looks amazing!
Two comments though:
1. Fat will not make you fat. The lowfat theory has been debunked a long time ago. What you want to avoid is white flour (we don’t do that since we’re GF anyway), white sugar and white salt. Instead use whole grain flours (soaked, if possible), natural sweeteners like honey and cane juice and Celtic or gray salt.
2. Splenda is very dangerous – it has chlorine in it !! Please research this – http://www.truthaboutsplenda.com is a good start. Use natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup or superripe bananas! Stevia is another good option.
Love your blog…

Thanks, Magda! 😉 I’m actually cutting back on my saturated fats as a means of avoidin the heart disease that runs in my family. My last cholesterol check showed that my HDLs and LDLs weren’t where they should be. -Kate

How Cool! I was just hoping I could find a good GF banana bread recipe and here you have it! I am going to try this ASAP. Don’t have yogurt though. What could I use instead? I can’t do millet either so will be replacing it with something else. Looks great and can’t wait to try it!:)

Kimberly –
I would use a low fat sour cream for a sour cream banana bread and instead of the millet, I would use brown rice flour. – I hope it works! Come back and let me know what you did. -Kate

Hi Kate,
I just had a piece of banana bread and it was delish.! I used applesauce in place of the yogurt, used about 1/4 cup agave instead of brown sugar and brown rice in place of millet. I also ground my GF oats into flour as I can’t tolerate them whole. It was REALLY yummy! Thanks a bunch!

This looks fab. I can’t wait to get into the kitchen to try this banana bread. I have some frozen bananas in the freezer calling out to me. Have you made it into muffins yet? If so, what are the changes in baking time?

Awesome Bread!! I made this yesterday for my celiac son and he LOVED it! I substituted apple sauce for the yogurt(didn’t have it on hand), added a whole egg (to lazy to separate), and 3/4 cup chopped dark chocolate. It was to die for! Been looking for a way to sneak millet and oats into his diet. Super easy recipe, thanks a million!

FIRST, TO MAGDA – CONTRARY TO WHERE YOU’RE GETTING YOUR FAT REPORTS, FAT DOES MAKE YOU FAT, THERE’S NO QUESTION ABOUT THAT. SATURATED SITS IN YOUR BODY AND HAS NOTHING TO DO BUT ADD UNHEALTHY FAT MASS AND WEIGHT, IT’S TOO HARD TO DIGEST. ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS, HOWEVER, ARE NEEDED BY THE BODY FOR MAY REASONS (OLIVE OIL, NUTS, FISH ETC).
THE RECIPE ABOVE CONTAINS XANTHAN GUM, WHICH IS ALSO VERY HARD FOR THE BODY TO DIGEST, BROWN SUGAR A REFINED PRODUCT THAT IS FAT POISON TO YOUR BODY, MILLET FLOUR A GOOD SOURCE OF NUTRIENTS BUT ALSO HARD TO DIGEST FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTOLERANT.
NEED TO WORK ON RETOOLING THIS RECIPE. AS IT’S AUTHOR STATED SHE’S TRYING VERY HARD TO LOSE WEIGHT, IT’S NOT JUST SATURATED FAT YOU HAVE TO STAY AWAY FROM, THE REFINED SUGARS, ADDITIVES UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY’RE DERIVED FROM AND THEIR NUTRITION FACTORS (IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT A WORD IS PUT SAID PRODUCT BACK ON THE SHELF AND MOVE ON).
A GREAT SUBSTITUTE FOR THE FLOURS MAY BE RICE FLOUR, FOR THE PERSON WHO ASKED. THINK I’LL TRY THIS RECIPE (AS THE BREAD DID LOOK DELICIOUS, AND I’M STUCK HERE IN MINNESOTA, SO GOTTA HAVE IT ON HAND OR THEY’LL STRING ME UP FROM THE TOWN SQUARE). FIRST I’LL COMPLETELY OMIT THE BROWN SUGAR (BAD BAD STUFF) AND GO WITH HONEY AND MAYBE A TINY DOT OF BLACKSTRAP MOLASSES FOR THE “FLAVOR” OF BROWN SUGAR.

I like the idea of honey with a little blackstrap – that would be delicious. I’ve made this recently with agave nectar too – just cut back a little on the moisture elsewhere. As far as the rice versus millet…. I’m sold on the nutritional value of the millet over the rice for now. Since my system has been well healed thanks to the 8+ years of GF living, it’s not difficult for me to digest. I’m glad you pointed out the sugar factor here – it’s true. Sugar is a diet killer! (And anyone from MN is welcome here! I’m a MN girl too!) – Kate

Kate, my HDL and LDL were totally out of whack before I went off gluten.

Selfish thing that I am, I couldn’t bear to give up butter, cheese, chocolate, cookies, etc–and lo and behold, my cholesterol is just just fine now.

I also went contrary to public opinion, and give my kids whole milk instead of skim (I believe that fats are essential for healthy brain development–we also eat lots of fish). They are also gluten-free–and they are the healthiest kids in their classes, and all of them are on the slender side of normal.

I discovered your blog while looking for gluten free banana bread recipes. I eat very low fat and mostly vegan for health reasons, so this looked really good to me. I veganized it by using soy yogurt and egg replacer instead of the egg whites. And since I was rather low on GF oats, I used half oats and half quinoa flakes. It came out great! My son is here visiting, and he loves it, too!

Thank you for such a great recipe template. I enjoyed reading through your blog. I also tried your sun dried tomato bread (which also came out well with a lower fat twist, and I made a vegan version of your skillet pasta that was absolutely to die for. Thank you very much!! I will keep checking back in.

Love the sounds of this recipe! And just wondering if this might be something that would work in a bread machine? I’m definitely new with the bread machine and lots to learn and would love to make this in my new machine. Any suggestions?

Hi,
This is delicious and very easy to make – I did however find that the dough was quite rubberlike. Although it was a great consistancy, the mixture wasn’t holding together strongly and took a long time to cook through. I have made it a couple of times and the same issues occure. Any suggestions??
It does taste delicious so if anyone knows what mught help, I would love to know!

So excited to try this! I have a housemate who can’t eat gluten so had a search online for this & was suprised that I actually don’t have to restock the pantry with gf products to make this. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!

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